Valve Steam Box rumoured for 2013

The much anticipated home console from Steam and Half-Life makers Valve will use Linux not Windows, according to the latest rumours.

The Valve Steam Box will be released in 2013 and will run the Linux operating system, not Windows – according to new information from German website golem.de

Although Valve has always been cagey on whether it’s actually working on its own console or not it has admitted it’s creating new hardware of some sort. It’s widely believed though that the ‘Steam Box’ will be a set-top box that is able to run games from download service Steam.

Most of Steam’s games though require Windows, so to find out that the new hardware actually uses open source alternative Linux is a bit of a surprise. Or perhaps not considering Valve boss Gabe Newell described Windows 8 as a ‘catastrophe for everybody in the PC space’.

Although a 2013 release, with a reveal at either GDC in March or E3 in June, seems believable enough we’ve never heard of golem.de before and we’re not sure how reliable they are.

Their source is Valve engineer Ben Krasnow, speaking at the EHSM 2012 conference in Berlin last month. But even given the language issues we’re not sure why this information is only coming to light now.

The full story was translated by forum NeoGAF though and it claims that the hardware is currently in beta form. Not only that but Valve are apparently working on other ‘secret projects’, thought to be bespoke controllers and VR goggles.

If the rumours are true it means up to five new home consoles are being released this year: Steam Box, the next generation Xbox, the newly revealed Nvidia Shield, OUYA, and possibly the PlayStation 4.